To lower costs and widen availability of prosthetic limbs, a team of people from around the globe have teamed up to create 3D-printable prosthetics under the name “Robohand.” While the initial focus was on hands and fingers, the team has now set their sights on offering a 3D-printable leg at a fraction of the cost of traditional prosthetics.

The FDA has officially approved the first multi-input myoelectric artificial limb. The new Deka Arm System is designed to better replicate the full range of human function and was developed in conjunction with DARPA.

Many smartphone owners know the sorrow of dropping a phone and finding the fall cracked or chipped the casing. A new type of plastic developed at Duke University could change all that. This material actually gets stronger when it is stressed.

Since claiming that he will build the robotic exoskeleton that enables a paraplegic to perform the opening kickoff during the next world cup, Miguel Nicolelis has been scrambling to make good on his self-imposed mandate. By all measures, he has logged several important advances en route to that goal this year alone. The latest offering from his lab at Duke provides an important link to how an exoskeleton will be incorporated at the cortical level, into the so-called body schema.

DBS implants can dramatically short-circuit a debilitating tremor, and let those afflicted eat a steak dinner unscathed, but the average Joe won’t be wanting one of them anytime soon. On the other hand, the new Nucleus 6 system from Cochlear now offers some incredible new features with a much more universal appeal.

Along with mouths and hair, eyes are one of the biggest reasons why artificial creations can’t climb their way out of the uncanny valley. One reason for this is because artificial eyes — in computer-generated models or on animatronic robots — are simply not expressive enough. Disney Research has taken a step toward correcting this issue by creating 3D-printed eyes that are not only extremely expressive, but dynamic.

Modern-day robotics has already advanced to the point where we can create robot limbs sophisticated enough to be attached to machines and perform tasks efficiently enough to outpace humans in certain areas. A significant problem with these limbs, though, is that they’re just too expensive, and not precise enough to outpace humans across the board. However, DARPA has developed a cheap robotic hand that can almost match human performance in dexterous activities, like changing a tire.

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